Customer Reviews

David Falkayn: Star Trader: The Technic Civilization Saga

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I finished David Falkayn: Star Trader: The Technic Civilization Saga #2 recently. I enjoyed reading the adventures of David Falkayn, Chee Lan, Adzel, and Nicholas Van Rijn again, and it's interesting reading them in chronological order and seeing how the times and people change... Poul Anderson wrote a long history of life and adventure among the stars, including other characters who came later. There's a chronology of Technic Civilization at the end, btw, that helps the reader see the big picture. David's ambition and drive and loyalty to his companions, Chee Lan's temper, and Adzel's gentleness--though not everyone sees beyond his size--and Nicholas Van Rijn's shrewdness are a fun mixture. And Poul Anderson's science background adds intriguing planets--and cultures.

I have been re-reading the three volumes (so far) in Baen's reissue of the Van Rijn, Falkayn, and Flandry stories, and the headline has been rediscovering just how good a science fiction writer Poul Anderson was. One of the back cover blurbs says something to the effect that "Poul Anderson ... probably does more different things well than anyone else in the field", and I think that is a very fair assessment. The science is great, the politics is very good, the characterization is very good, and the maturity level of the author is far higher than, say, Heinlein. Anderson's very best is not as good as Heinlein's very best, but almost everything of Anderson's is far better than Heinlein's weak stuff--and none of it is marred by the self-indulgence and wish fulfillment that marked later Heinlein.

It's great to be reminded what a wonderful writer Anderson was! I started reading his work in the early 60's, and read just about everything he ever published.

In this collection, "Satan's World" alone is worth the entire price of the book- lots of speculative writing and faced-paced action, mixed with just enough hard science to support it all. (I include economics in the "hard science" column; Anderson's characters take on the Big Government true believers and leave them gasping for air. He may be the first of the great Libertarian SF writers.)

My only beef is with the cover art in this series. I'm assuming this is supposed to be a portrayal of the aristocratic David Falkayn, but it looks more like a Mob hit man. The first book in this series suffered from the same ham-handed art work, making van Rijn look like a jolly, chubby Topol.

A suggestion for the publisher: give the editor a bonus, and fire the cover artist. As Nick van Rijn would say, "I got no time for fumblydiddles!"

I thoroughly enjoyed David Falkayn: Star Trader, which is a collection incorporating a novel, five novellas and a short story. The only other book I've read in the Technic Civilization series is "The Three Cornered Wheel", which I thoroughly enjoyed many, many years ago, so it was great to find more stories from the same 'future history'. While in a space opera style, most stories are build around some hard science seed, and given these stories were written some thirty years ago, they've held up very well. This book is well worth a look if you enjoy a light SF read that has much of the background extrapolated from astronomical physics to good effect.

I grew up in the Technic Civilization through the words of the master, Poul Anderson. Finding a new publication by Anderson was a bright spot in my reading week when I was young. The names of Falkyn, Von Rijn and Flandry remained on my personal hard disc so it was nice to see them reappear in print and in chronological order with a chronologic history by Sandra Meisel guiding me through the era. I've given this 4 rather than 5 stars because as nostalgic as the series is ( and I definitely look forward to the Flandry releases), I don't think it quite reaches the level of Jack Chandler's Lost Fleet Series but it should be a welcome addition to the serious SF reader's library. Best if read in order but not absolutely necessary.

These excellent stories constitute Poul Anderson's vision of humanity's future in space. Essentially, the author assumes that human beings and their alien counterparts on other worlds will be driven by the same motivations as today--material and commercial gain. Free enterprise needs elbow room, according to the author, and in these stories the author postulates a future in which interstellar travel is cheap and feasible, and there are many intelligent races in the universe, some friendly some not. The Polesotechnic League ("League of Selling Skills") is a loose confederation of interstellar merchants with the sole aim of promoting conditions favorable to interplanetary commerce. The League is more powerful than any government, and less oppressive since its only goal is to promote commerce. These stories deal with David Falkayn, a human being, Adzel (a large reptilian intelligent being), and Chee Lan, a small feline being who despite their differences as species, meld together into an interstellar trading team with the mission of finding and developing new markets. Many of these new commercial opportunities involve strange civilizations and aliens, and it is all great fun. One of Poul Anderson's strengths is his ability to intelligently postulate the nature of other alien beings, and usually the aliens that he presents in his story really are aliens, and they make sense to the reader even with their different-than-human perspectives. Falkayn, Adzel, and Chee Lan are vivid characters that the reader will come to know and appreciate. I did.

Anderson's Polesotechnic League stories, presented in this collection, provide a dazzling and optimistic vision of the future. It is great that author Anderson's works are being republished. I do wish that Kindle versions were available and I hope that this will happen soon. Meanwhile, enjoy.

Highly recommended. RJB.

Fun Read from the co-author of the amusing HOKA stories.

2nd in the "Technic Civilization" Series of Far Future Anthologies.

The stories from this installment in the series were mainly written in the late 60's and early 70's, and while at times the technology is a bit anachronistic (especially when it comes to computer technology), these stories are generally entertaining, and I always look forward to reading them. Van Rign's "sayings" are always a hoot - sometimes "laugh out loud" funny.

This book was received in new condition within the normal time. It brings together many of the stories published in different places. Some I had read, some I had missed. I am very pleased with this book and with the easy ordering process.